Our journey continues on January 22nd with a sensory journey through the fragrant world of conifers. Explore the diverse and intriguing scents released by these trees, from the classic cedar aroma to the unique smells of aniseed, lemon verbena, and even turpentine-based shoe polish. Learn about the best places to experience these scents, including London's parks and the renowned Bedgebury arboretum. This article will reveal the hidden olfactory delights of winter's conifers. Don't miss out on this aromatic exploration of nature's winter scents!
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Conifer scents
There are a wide range of interesting scents released by conifers. These can be enjoyed any time but especially in January when there are so few scented flowers. It is best to visit a pinetum or conifer collection such as those at Kew, Wisley or the Valley gardens near Windsor. In the Valley gardens there is also a dwarf and slow-growing conifer collection near the heather garden. Conifers have a long history of not growing well in central London, mainly due to aereal pollution. To be sure of finding as many species as possible it may be necessary to visit the arboretum at Bedgebury in Kent which boasts the largest collection of conifers in the world.
Some of these trees have leaves which readily emit their scents but with most you need to bruise the foliage slightly between your thumb and forefinger before the scent is released. In and around London certain conifers can be found without much difficulty.
Cedars with their classic cedar scent are common on the grounds of large houses as are giant redwoods whose leaves smell of aniseed and coastal redwoods which smell of candlewax. Lawson cypresses are planted everywhere and their crushed leaves emit parsley and resin. In parks, junipers and Monterey cypresses are reasonably common, the first smelling of gin and the second lemon verbena. The Christmas tree noted for holding its leaves longer than most is often the Caucasian fir Abier normanniana.
This sometimes smells of fruit and at other times of paint. There are a good variety of scented firs to be found in the Valley gardens. The Grand fir Abies grandis (oranges), Red fir Abies magnifica (tangerine), White fir Abies concolor (lemon) and Douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii (ripe apples) can all be found as can the Eastern hemlock Thuja canadensis (sweet lemon).
Even rarer conifers are best looked for at Bedgebury e.g. Eastern Siberian fir Abies nephrolepis (balsam or paint), Nootka cypress Chaemaecyparis nootkatensis (Ox-eye daisies), Sawara cypress Chaemaecyparis pisifera (resin), Japanese Thuja Thuja standishi (lemon verbena), White cedar Thuja occidentalis (apple) and the Korean Thuja with its wonderful scent of almond rich fruit cake.
Incense cedars Calocedrus decurrens have the unusual scent of turpentine-based shoe polish. They are worth hunting down irrespective of their scent. When they are planted it is often in groves where they form huge green parallel-sided columns which always excite comment. They first arrived here in 1853 and the best known of these original introductions was planted at Frogmore near Queen Victoria’s mausoleum. It towers there close to one hundred feet in height and has a truly majesterial quality. In its North American home the tree grows much more openly only very rarely forming columns. It is hard to think there may once have been forests of these columns as its fossils have been found as far away as Greenland.
